Pet Sitting Woes
by Neospice12
Summary: A year as passed since the future arc, and something occurs, the Vongola Gear animals are free from their ring forms! Haru decides to watch over them while this is being fixed. What will happen? Haru x multiple.
1. What's The Malfunction?

Yay! I finally got to getting around to creating this story! It's been in my head for a while and I finally had some time and ideas to write it out.

Alright, so this is slight AU like always. Those of the Shimon family do not really show up in this story at all. I don't really feel like putting them in here really… ha ha. Too much work…

The only thing that came out of the Shimon is **[spoiler alert for ch. 346**] that Mukuro was released from the prison and that he could return to his original body. He will not need to really possess Chrome's body anymore. My other fics have him still doing so, and I will not change that. (Hibird the Yellow Feathered Matchmaker) This fic only will go under that idea. **[spoiler over]**

Regardless I do hope that you can come to enjoy the first chapter of this. ^^

Disclaimer: KHR belongs to the awesome Akira Amano! I just write fanfiction for her awesome work.

* * *

><p><strong>What's The Malfunction?<strong>

"Just where is Reborn? He's been gone for like… a week." Tsuna said walking through the park with the rest of the gang.

"Collonello has been gone for a while too, even longer than a week. I'm worried about him." Kyoko said with a sad look on her face, clearly very worried for the little Rain Arcobaleno.

"Reborn said he was gone on urgent business, what about Collonello?"

"Collonello said the same thing." Kyoko said.

"I'm sure they're fine. They're strong." Ryohei reassured them both.

"Yeah, you're right." The two both agreed.

"Gao." Natsu cried from his ring.

"Hm? Natsu, what's wrong?" He asked.

"Gao gao?"

"Ha ha, I'm fine Natsu. Thanks for worrying." Tsuna chuckled.

"Juudaime and his sky lion get along so well. It's so admirable. If only Uri could grow to like me." Gokudera sighed and Uri just hissed in retaliation.

Suddenly all of the rings started to glow.

"What is going on? Why are you guys letting out your dying will flames?" Tsuna asked.

"I'm not doing it on purpose Juudaime, also your ring is also glowing." Gokudera said.

Tsuan looked down at Natsu's ring to see that it was indeed glowing.

The animal rings all cried out loudly.

"Huh? Natsu? Are you okay?" Tsuna looked at his ring worriedly.

"U-Uri? What's wrong with you? Stop making such a ruckus."

"HISS!"

"Did you just hiss at me? If you weren't in your ring form…" Gokudera huffed angrily.

"Jirou and Kojirou are acting oddly as well. Do you think they are having a mini riot and are letting out dying will flames?" Yamamoto asked with an uncharacteristic worried face which replaced his usual smile.

"MUUU!~"

"Gyupya! Gyuudon is angry!" Lambo shouted running around in circles, panicking.

"Now now don't get upset now Lambo. It's just a talking ring. Take it like a man." Ryohei huffed staring at his ring and how Kangaryuu kept making sounds as well.

"Hahi, this is so weird-desu." Haru said.

"Yeah I know it's like… they sense something bad is going to happen." Kyoko said.

As soon as she said that- as if on cue the rings… started to crack!

"N-N-Natsu! Are you okay? What's going on!" Tsuna shouted loudly.

The rings all cracked and a bright light surrounded them.

"I'm BLIND!" Lambo shouted.

"Just shut up, ahoshi!('stupid cow')"

"Tako-head!"

"Tch tch tch." "Nyang~" "G-gao…" "Muuu…" "Woof!" "Cheep cheep~"

"Natsu? You're okay?" Tsuna called out covering his eyes from the great big flash his eyes were not anticipating.

When the light disappeared, everyone was rubbing their eyes trying to get their eyesight back.

"Ow! Who punched me! That's it! Someone has issued the challenge! Well bring it on!" Ryohei was randomly punching the air.

"I-I still can't see!" Tsuna was trying to feel around to feel a hard surface so he could stay next to it and be safe while he regained his eyesight but he stepped some something and tripped.

"GAO!"

"G-gwah! What the hell is this!" Gokudera shouted as he felt that his face was being ripped to shreds.

"W-what is going on? W-woah there. Is someone liking me?" Yamamoto was clearly shocked by this odd notion.

Haru and Kyoko who were farthest away from the light regained their eyesight first.

"Ha-hahi! This is so shocking-desu! What are all of these animals doing here?"

"Wow~ It's like a petting zoo!" Kyoko giggled.

"What?" Tsuna rubbed his eyes and saw this orange fluffy animal right in front of his eyes.

"G-gao…"

"NATSU!"

"Gao!" Natsu ran a few paces away from him and shuddered frightened by his sudden shouting.

"What are all of the animals doing here? Uri get off my face."

"GYUDON! Nya ha ha!" Lambo laughed and jumped onto the bulls back.

"My boxing buddy!" Ryohei laughed and hugged Kangaryuu.

"Ha ha! I'm not sure what's going on but this is fun!" Yamamoto laughed petting Jirou and was laughing at Kojirou fly around in excitement.

"Hm… I suppose that it really did happen." Lal Mirch said jumping down from one of the trees.

"Lal Mirch-san? What are you doing here?" Tsuna asked her.

"Well I was told to watch over you brats, and well I was told that they rings just may revert back to their original forms." Lal Mirch explained.

"Why?" Gokudera asked, being a man who liked answers.

"Well I don't really know myself. I'm not the one who made the animals take form of rings." She said.

"Will they revert back to normal?" Gokudera asked.

"I'm not sure but I think they will be stuck like this for a while until we can figure out a plan." Lal Mirch said.

Haru and Kyoko approached the animals looking at some of them, remembering each and every one of them.

"So, Lal Mirch-san? What are we going to do? We can't like… leave the vongola box animals out like this." Tsuna said panicking a little bit.

"Hahi, Natsu~ Hello do you remember, Haru?" Haru asked the little sky lion who hid behind Tsuna.

"He's so cute isn't he, Haru-chan?"

"Hai! He's very cute-desu!"

"So cute we could just eat him up." Kyoko giggled.

"Haru agrees~" Haru smiled and Natsu let out a whimper climbing up Tsuna's back and up onto his shoulder shivering in fright.

"Natsu? That hurts Natsu, please get down."

"G-gao…" Natsu groaned in disappointment.

"Gah! Uri! Stop it! Bad! Bad! Stop it!" Gokudera shouted trying to get the clawing cat off of his face.

"Ha ha! This is fun! Kojirou! Jirou! I thought that I wouldn't see you guys like this for a very long time." Yamamoto laughed petting his rain dog, and laughing as the rain swallow flew overhead.

"Nya ha ha ha! GYUDON!" Lambo cheered at the big bull and was jumping around, much to the bull's annoyance.

"Kyokugen! I got my great sparring buddy bad! Kanagryuu I missed you!" Ryohei shouted at the top of his lungs and hugged his kangaroo friend with all of his strength, which is sun Kangaroo reciprocated.

Lal Mirch was looking around trying to access the situation. "Well… all I can say is that it looks like your vongola box animals are stuck like this for a while. Verde is the one who helped with this so he would know what's going on but he's disappeared.

"D-dissapeared?" Tsuna shouted in shock.

"Well I wasn't supposed to tell you but I see no point not to. I don't know much of the details of Verde's situation or these rings, but all I do know is that Verde has disappeared and Mammon had asked Collonello for assistance, and when Collonello also disappeared… Reborn decided to go in and settle things. Before he left, he put me in charge of you brats. I've just been watching over you but when this happened I had to reveal myself." Lal Mirch said.

"So what are we going to do? We can't keep these animals at home." Gokudera said. "My apartment doesn't accept pets." He added.

"Well, I do have a nearby vacant house. Sometimes all of the arcobaleno will gather there whenever there is a big meeting. I use it when I have to be here for a long period of time as well. You can store the animals there."

"So you rented a house?"

"No, I bought one."

"Y-you bought one? You don't even stay here for that long, why need a house?"

"It was cheap." Lal Mirch shrugged.

"Houses aren't that cheap though." Tsuna questioned her dubiously.

"Reborn helped me get a good deal." Lal Mirch added.

"Well that explains it. Reborn-san's excellent at negotiations." Gokudera said.

"So you can take all of the animals there." Lal Mirch suggested.

"Woah wait a minute, I have a question though. Are we… just going to leave the animals on their own? Don't they need someone to watch over them?" Yamamoto asked.

"You're right, we'll need someone who's good with animals, and will probably have more time on their hands." Lal Mirch said and everyone looked at Haru.

"Ha-Hahi? Haru? Oh Haru doesn't know if that's such a good idea-desu." Haru said waving her hands in front of her.

"Well you aren't that bad with the animals, and you are being home schooled after Reborn managed to convince your father." Gokudera said.

"Though is it okay to just leave her to watch over all of the animals? That's a bit unfair." Yamamoto said.

"Well I will also be living in the house, so I will help her whenever she needs help." Lal Mirch said.

"I suppose that could be okay." Yamamoto said a bit unsure of the whole thing though.

"This… would be temporary right? Haru wouldn't mind helping out even if it's just this much. Haru would like being more useful to everyone."

"Well then it's settled. Let's relocate ourselves then." Lal Mirch said walking in the direction of the vacant house.

"We're just going to move these animals through town?" Tsuna asked.

"Yes, now stop complaining or you are getting 10 backhands for questioning me." Lal Mirch said and Tsuna shut up.

"Follow me." She re-stated and she walked off.

They all walked around the town with their animals. Some could walk around more naturally than others.

Tsuna was carrying Natsu like he was a doll.

Yamamoto had asked for Kojirou to follow Lal Mirch from air and pretended to be taking Jirou for a walk.

Gokudera was also walking Uri, since you know walking your cat wasn't that hard at all.

Ryohei and Lambo had it the hardest, though they were also the ones that didn't care about being conspicuous at all.

Ryohei was walking alongside Kangaryuu occasionally throwing punches at her[1].

Lambo was still riding on Gyuudon's back having his good old fun at his expense.

Once they got to the house, they all managed to walk into the house, and it was pretty spacious.

Well it was for the arcobaleno, and some of them needed a lot of space.

Like Skull for instance with his huge armored octopus partner.

"This is HUGE! I'm surprised that you got it for so cheap!" Tsuna said in awe.

"It was a lot smaller but we all added onto it." Lal Mirch explained.

"Well the animals can stay here and roam around the house and I suppose that Haru will also have to stay here to watch over the animals. I will show you to your room later. Your room can be right across from mine." She said.

"Ah… okay, thank you." Haru thanked her still trying to wrap her mind around how she was going to have to care for all of these animals.

"Well I'll help you move in after we get all of this settled." Lal Mirch said.

"Thank you Lal Mirch-san." Haru said watching all of the animals roam around some sniffing around at their new surroundings.

"I'm sure they are all potty trained." Lal Mirch said.

"I think so." Yamamoto said not really sure.

"Well if they aren't… they'll soon learn what's coming to them as soon as they make an 'accident' in this house." Lal Mirch said.

"Are you sure you are going to be okay with this Haru?" Tsuna asked her.

"You don't want me to help?" Kyoko asked her.

"Well Haru is being homeschooled so it doesn't really bother me. Though you could try stopping by after school and helping perhaps." Haru suggested.

"I think I'll do that." Kyoko smiled.

"Well everyone should just go now while Haru and I situate everything. This will take a while." Lal Mirch said.

"Well… see you tomorrow then, Haru-chan." Kyoko bid her friend farewell without looking back at her nervously, having mixed feeling about her taking up this job, along with the others.

Haru, though, was determined that she could do this fine. After all she also had Lal Mirch to help her.

"Well then we might as well get started." Haru sighed figuring out just where all of the animals were going to sleep, where to feed them, feed them what, what to feed them from, where shall they get their water, tell them where to go to the bathroom, etc.

The last matter of business was going to be packing up just some of her things so she could move into the big house and get ready for her big day tomorrow.

* * *

><p>[1]= Kangaryuu is often stated as a male in the series but it has a pouch. Only females have pouches… it's part of the whole reproductive system. I did my research. I don't care if it's stated as a male, but only females have pouches so I'm referring to her as female.<p>

Well then there is chapter one. Hopefully this is satisfactory enough for an introductory chapter. I hate starting off stories. Just so hard dang it. I hope that it's interesting enough.

Just where are Hibari and Mukuro you ask? Well… they'll be coming out in the next few chapters or so. PSHHH like Mukuro and Hibari would be walking through the park with everyone else right? Especially in the same park at the same time? Oh lordy, pray that the park doesn't get destroyed.

So I decided to make them come out later on. Hm… I'm not sure when this will end but I feel as though it may go on for a while. Maybe… who knows.

Either way, when it's getting close to ending I will put up a poll to see which coupling gets the most votes and that is who Haru will end up with at the end. Though with my other poll that I had, Mukuro x Haru and Hibari x Haru are the reigning coupling pairs that people tend to like most.

I'm hoping for the other pairings to have a chance as well since that's more fun isn't it? A good competition instead of an overwhelming win?

Until next time!

-Neospice12


	2. Never Trust the Nocturnal

Well then here is another update for you all! Hopefully you all like this story so far. I really don't know when this story will end… but I don't think it'll end that soon. I currently mapped out chapters 1-9 figured out, so it won't take me a month to get over any writer's blocks. All you all need to do is worry about how lazy and busy I get, and enjoy the reading when they come out. I'm not feeling like the story is anywhere close to being done with 9 chapters so it may go for a long while. I'm trying to have at least an introductory chapter with all of the guys, and have some chapters that deal with why the Arcobaleno are gone. Ew… this may end up being more than 20 chapters like the two other stories. QAQ UGGHHH wish me luck on coming up with some ideas.

Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING. THUS, THIS IS FANFICTION. Love it, and review it, or hate it… and well… review if you want at your own risk. HA HA

* * *

><p><strong>Never Trust the Nocturnal<strong>

Haru woke up from the sound of the animal's cries, and many sets of feet running around the house.

Haru peeled open her eyes tiredly to see that the sun had just risen from the looks of the sunlight creeping in through the blinds.

Haru sighed and she set out to get out of her bed and she walked to the bathroom first to get herself ready for the tiring day.

Once she walked out she was tackled down by a dog and a cat.

"Ha-hahi! Jirou! Uri! Get off of Haru please! She'll give you your food in just a moment-desu!" Haru squealed as she tried to move away from the furry little critters who were currently walking all over her begging for food.

Jirou was the obedient canine and hopped off of her, sitting down next to her with his tail wagging quickly. Uri though opted to climb onto her shoulder and stay there, her claws digging into her clothes for a firm grip, and luckily enough she hadn't dug them deep enough to hurt Haru.

Haru walked over to the kitchen to read the schedule that she and Lal Mirch had both decided upon together.

"Well it looks as though everyone will have two big meals every day, well except for Kojirou, he will eat out of his bird feeder whenever he feels like it." Haru said trudging into the kitchen as more animals decided it would be fun to latch onto Haru as she ventured into the kitchen to give them food.

Natsu climbed up to her shoulders and perched on the other shoulder that Uri had not occupied. Kojirou had perched on top of her head like her hair were a nest of some sorts.

Jirou was lightly rubbing against her leg as she walked with the top of his head in a loving gesture of saying 'thank you' in advance for giving them food.

Gyuudon was still sleeping in the corner and… where was Kangaryuu?

"Yes, yes that's it. Right hook. Ah, too slow! I could dodge that in my sleep, and you call yourself a Vongola box animal!"

BAM!

"Garuu!"

Haru just shook her head now knowing where Kangaryuu was. She walked over to the counter and she placed all of the bowls onto t he ground and she opened up the cabinets getting out bags of food, and some canned foods as well.

Box animals did not really have a real need for food as they really just needed flames, but this didn't really process too well with Haru. She wanted to feed them anyways. Nothing happened when they fed Uri fish when they visited the future.

So if they could eat human food as well, then there was nothing wrong with feeding the box animals real food other than flames.

Haru was pouring or dropping the food into the individual bowls of each animal and she would step back to see all of the animals would look at her and then back at the food.

"Um… enjoy your food?" Haru questioned and the animals before her jumped down to get to their food and started to eat.

Haru went into the closet next to get out some big piles of plants, or whatever this was that these animals ate. Was this just grass? Hay? Whatever it was, Lal Mirch said that Gyuudon would be happy with this. She needed five pitch-forks full and that would last Gyuudon for pretty much the whole day.

Poor cows and bulls having like, what was it? 5 stomachs? 6? 7? Whichever it was, it took them forever to eat.

She also had to get out some of the plants and fruit for Kangaryuu. This was hard work already and it was just breakfast time!

Once she set Kangaryuu's food down, she soon heard some loud thumping coming her way. Before she would get stomped all over, she quickly moved to the side to safety being mindful of the other animals that were eating.

She heard a small whistling sound right above her. She looked up to see Kojirou staring down at her. She had almost forgot that he was on top of her head!

Haru quickly moved to the countertop to get the bad of bird seed and she poured it into the bird feeder and she filled the water bin with fresh water.

"Oh great, Haru has fed the animals but she didn't give them water yet." She sighed dropping to the ground tiredly.

"Good work Haru. You can go and rest up for now. I'll take care of the water supply for these animals." Lal Mirch said taking off the boxing gloves from her little hands.

Yep, she was having a morning spar with Kanagryuu. What an extreme person she was.

Haru smiled thankfully at Lal Mirch and she trudged her way to the couch and she let her body go limp onto its soft cushions that seemed to engulf her body.

Hm… yes, it felt so nice and soft. She was laying on a very comfy couch without a care in the world, feeling herself slowly slip into slumber until she suddenly felt really warm.

What is this? This… soft texture, and the-ow! What just poked her?

Haru unwillingly cracked open an eye to see that the animals started to dog-pile her as she was trying to rest on the couch.

Jirou was laying across her legs and her stomach while Natsu and Uri were both on her chest. That is, until Uri slapped Natsu with her claws and Natsu ran off crying in fear.

Kojirou found his favorite place on top of Haru's head in the middle of her hair whorl.

"Ha-Hahi… Haru can't move…" Haru groaned, though this was pretty warm and comforting. They weren't making much noise or anything.

Uri was curled up on top of Haru's chest, eyes closed, with her chest moving up and down. Was she sleeping?

"PUURRRR"

Well that answered her question. Jirou and Kojirou were sleeping as well. Haru rotated her eyes downwards to look down at the ground to see that Kangaryuu was full of food and she was pawled out against the cool wooden floor and was sleeping.

Haru let herself slip into deep slumber for a while dreaming a rather dreamless dream.

She slept with all of the animals surrounding her peacefully until one dreaded person did the unthinkable.

Ringing. The. DOORBELL. THAT JERK.

Jirou's head perked up suddenly, ears twitching and then he barked a loud bark surprising everyone else who was sleeping awake.

"RYAA! FFFT FFTT!" Uri meowed in fury and started to hiss at the dog, slapping it across the muzzle.

Jirou hopped off the couch with a small whine, slipping on Kangaryuu's tail on accident.

"Guuaaa!" Kanagryuu shouted and was on her feet ready to punch the snot out of the one who dared to step on her now aching tail.

Kojirou flew around in circles emitting a very loud cry which Uri found very dissatisfying and started to chase swallow in a hot pursuit.

DING DONG!

"Hahi! Haru is coming-desu! AH! Stop that right now! Ah, I'm so sorry Jirou~ Ow! Kojirou~ Please be careful-desu!" Haru whinned almost at the point of a mental breakdown at how all of these animals were in a midst of a fight and were running around everywhere tripping her, and trampling all over her as she was trying to walk over to the door to answer it.

Haru finally managed to make it to the door after the person on the other side of the door was getting impatient and kept ringing the doorbell which Jirou constantly barked in retort at.

"ALL OF YOU SHUT UP!" Lal Mirch roared having her little nap interrupted and she was not a happy person.

The animals stopped for a moment staring at her in fright, fur standing on end.

Haru opened the door to have the animals charge at her running away from Lal Mirch.

"Hello- OOF!" Haru crashed onto the ground hitting her chin onto the ground. "T-that hurt-desu… so so much-desu…" Haru cried out from the pain of her poor chin.

"Oya Oya, it looks like you are having some trouble." A suave voice spoke out.

Haru opened her eyes to see more than one pair of feet. How many people came to visit?

"I still don't think we should've brought him along, Juudaime." A disgruntled voice raised a complaint.

A small sigh was heard from the poor ever-bullied Tsunayoshi Sawada.

"Maa maa, just calm down Gokudera, it's fine."

Yamamoto tried to calm Gokudera down, actually holding him back from wanting to start a scuffle with Mukuro who was smirking at him provocatively. He wasn't helping Yamamoto in the least. Ryohei was watching with a careful eye, being sure to stop a fight if one just so happened to break out.

"Yeah Tako-head chill out."

Ryohei crossed his arms across his chest and he huffed. Gokudera flinched and he stopped trying to lunge himself onto Mukuro. Gokudera shot an angry glare Ryohei's way for he was sure that his hearing was not impaired in the least.

"W-what did you call me?" Gokudera growled angrily when he noticed the door was finally opened but he didn't see anyone at the doorway.

"Ku fu fu fu fu… do you enjoy laying on the ground my dear?" Mukuro chuckled asking Haru his question as she was still on the ground under the crushing weight of the animals.

Haru was trying to push herself off the floor but the weight of the animals proved too be too much for her.

"Why would Haru like this? GET THESE ANIMALS OFF ME-DESU! NOW-DESU!" Haru raged on and the respective guardians took charge of getting their own animals off of Haru.

Haru sat up and she dusted herself off and she fixed her clothes, eyeing the little monsters carefully wondering just when they would attack her next.

"Natsu, please be nice to Haru, she's being nice enough to care for you. Please don't make her life any harder than it is already." Tsuna sighed lightly scolding his sky lion.

"G-gao… gao gao…" Natsu laid himself flat onto the ground as a sign of submission and apology.

His ears were pressed flat against his skull, his tail lay limp onto the ground, and his eyes reflected extreme sadness.

Little tears threatening to fall from the little lion's eyes feeling repentant at his actions.

"Well as long as you understand."

He slowly inched towards Haru and curled up on her lap licking her hand apologetically. "Aw… Natsu how cute." Haru giggled petting his soft mane with her hand.

"RYAA~" Uri ran over to Natsu and slapped him once again.

Natsu cried and hid behind Tsuna who only had a look of understanding and pity for the lion. He'd run away too if he was always being bullied by a little leopard.

"Uri! Stop being such a hassle! Also, be respectful to Juudaime's sky lion! As he is my boss, Uri is your animal boss!" Gokudera scolded Uri who only jumped onto Gokudera's face to enact scornful vengeance upon him.

Gokudera pried the feline away from his face and held him out away from claw length. "Is this what you did to Haru all day? You can't do that."

"Actually, Uri has never scratched me. Uri seems to like me a lot. She is always cuddling up to me, purring as she does so." Haru interrupted.

Gokudera stared at her with a confused look upon his face. Uri always tried to use his face as a scratching post every moment she got. That didn't sound like his Uri at all. His Uri wasn't that cute.

"Does she ignore you and treat you like you are lower than her?" He asked.

Haru looked at him oddly and she shook her head. Uri was such a gentle little creature towards her, but she didn't seem to like any other animal that got too close to her. Those poor things…

"No, never. She likes to follow me around, climbs onto my shoulder, and sometimes will lie on top of me and sleep while purring." Haru described what Uri had done all day.

Gokudera's look of utter dumbfounded shock was somewhat amusing. "What? What is the difference between HER and ME, Uri!" Gokudera shouted and Uri went back to trying to claw his face off again.

Everyone else started to just ignore this as it was almost a daily routine for Uri trying to claw Gokduera's face off and for Gokudera to just start fighting with a little animal.

Yamamoto placed his hand on top of his Rain dog's head with a little frown, trying to look a bit serious, but Jirou's sulking face was just too unbearably cute to stay mad at. Jirou was pretty smart and he knew that he was in trouble and he knew for what reason he was in trouble as well.

"Jirou, please be a good boy okay? Come on, be nice." Yamamoto looked at Jirou with a disappointed face and Jirou's tail sunk down, ears flat down and he whinned. He sunk his head down low and then he rolled onto his back showing his belly, which was often a submissive gesture amongst some wild canines.

Yamamoto smiled and he petted Jirou's head.

Jirou's ears perked up immediately and his tail wagged running over to Haru and he curled up right next to her happily.

Haru giggled and she petted his head happily, which aggravated Uri once again who jumped off Gokudera's head to try to slap Jirou's muzzle, in which he just expertly moved away from the moody feline.

"Now now Uri, be nice now." Haru said gently picking up Uri by the midsection to hold hug her to her chest and she smiled at the angry feline.

"T-that's not a good idea Haru." Gokudera warned her, a bit worried about how Uri was going to retaliate against her for picking her up when she was already angry.

Uri had always liked to claw at his face whenever he grabbed Uri, but for some reason Uri was not protracting her claws to lash out at Haru's rather bright and clean complexion.

"Fu fu fu~ This… is so… amusing." Mukuro said laughing to himself.

"Kangaryuu, you are the big animal here. Minus Gyuudon but he's a lazy bull. You got to be the strong one and stay calm, keep the other animals in line." Ryohei said.

"Guuaaa." Kangaryuu snorted and punched the air a couple of times to show that she was ready to take on the challenge.

"Now, miss Haru, I've heard that you've taken yourself up on the job of caring for the box animals?" Mukuro asked as he stared at her, his gaze almost piercing through her.

Haru suddenly felt the atmosphere around her freeze up with a shiver running up and down her spine and she gazed back up at Mukuro nervously who was the cause of her feeling such a way.

"Um… yes, that is quite right… and how may I help you?" Haru asked him politely not wanting to anger him.

Mukuro held out his arm and Mukurowl[1] flew down and perched onto his forearm.

"Hoo hoo~"

"Mukurowl, right?" Haru questioned looking at the white feathered cutie.

Gokudera got in between her and Mukuro defensively, glaring at him with an untrusting glare.

Mukuro just chuckled watching Gokudera with his differently colored eyes, and then he returned his gaze to the brunette haired female.

"Watch out Haru, he's nothing but trouble. He's probably onto something." Gokudera growled still never having forgiven Mukuro for all that he's done.

Mukuro smirked at Gokudera provocatively again and then he cast his look back at Haru, smiling a chilling but yet, almost harmless seeming smile. Just… something about his personality made his charming smile seem almost… chilling and dangerous.

"Ku fu fu fu~ I'm only here to ask that she could look after Mukurowl as well. It's unfair for him to not be able to socialize with the other animals, no?" He chuckled at Gokudera's extreme sense of paranoia.

"I don't think it would be that bad to look after the owl…" Haru interjected but was cut off by Gokudera's glare.

Haru clamped her mouth shut and she hadn't said anything else in fear of angering Gokudera even more.

Tsuna had Mukuro under his intense gaze as he made his way over to Gokudera, his storm guardian, and Haru, his friend.

"I don't sense anything wrong Gokudera, I'm sure it's fine." Tsuna reassured him.

"Yeah, it's not like the owl can do much harm." Ryohei said looking at the little bird, laughing mentally at how stupidly paranoid Gokudera was being.

Gokudera shot a glare quickly at Mukuro and then looked at Tsuna with a hurtful look. He still couldn't trust this man, but his boss was telling him to let it go.

He couldn't disregard his boss's wishes but he couldn't place him under harm either. It was his duty as Juudaime's future 'Right hand man' to ensure that everything he did was for the boss's sake.

Gokudera looked at the owl and then back at Haru who was currently trying to coo the oversized bird over to her.

Mukuro just chuckled to himself with his usual chuckle and he looked at the owl on his arm and with a twitch of the neck he said, "You know what to do Mukurowl." He said with an amused tone with a hint of laughter behind it.

"I knew it! He's planning something!" Gokudera shouted on the offensive.

Yamamoto waved a hand up and down as a gesture for him to calm down.

"Maa Maa, Gokudera it's probably fine. See? Mukurowl is just perching on her shoulder." Yamamoto said pointing to Mukurowl.

The owl had perched on Haru's shoulder and puffed out his feathers, which is usually a defensive stance against other cannibalistic owls, but it served to be a cute gesture in Haru's eyes.

Mukurowl then rubbed against Haru's cheek gently. "Hoo hoo~"

"Ho? What a cute thing. Going to be hard for her to resist that." Ryohei chuckled, and indeed he was correct.

Haru couldn't contain her excitement anymore. "Hahi! It's so cute-desu!" Haru squealed petting the owl with her fingers gently.

"Can Haru PLEASE look after Mukurowl as well? Haru thinks that things will be just fine. PLEASE? Pretty PLEASE?" Haru clapsed her hands together looking at Tsuna, Gokudera, Ryohei and Yamamoto with the biggest puppy dog pout she could muster.

Her eyebrows were lifted up high, eyes widened to show her saddened chocolate brown orbs, her lower lip protruded with a small little pout. Of course she didn't forget the little puppy dog whimper as well to add onto the innocent begging look routine.

She clasped her hands together and with a small tilt to the head, Haru looked undeniably adorable, not even Gokudera could lie and say that his heart had not melted a bit by seeing her like that.

It even had Jirou fooled, who stood on his hind legs, lightly pawing on Haru's cheek licking her cheek as if he were trying to cheer her up.

Jirou whinned barking at Gokudera, trotting in a circle barking in defiance over Gokudera's plea of not having Mukurowl stay with the other Vongola Gear animals.

"Ryaa~" Uri hissed at Gokudera and climbed up onto Haru's shoulders once again coiling herself around so she looked like she was a little feline scarf.

Uri's eyes were widened and she let out a small whine, being Haru's accomplice in the realm of begging to get one's desires fulfilled.

Gokudera cast his eyes to the side and cursed loudly, one hand reaching up to ruffle through his silver tresses. "Ah, damn it! FINE! I won't get angry about you taking care of Mukurowl but you better promise to stay vigilant around THIS man." Gokudera pointed an accusatory finger Mukuro's way.

Haru's pout went away as quickly as a cake would be devoured by her and Kyoko if their favorite cake shop was having a sale. She smiled brightly and she hopped a bit excitedly.

"That's great! Haru gets to play with you too Mukurowl~" Haru giggled looking at the white bird that pecked her cheek lightly.

"Aw~ I think that was a little bird kiss wasn't it? How cute~" Haru giggled.

Tsuna was happy that Haru was appeased by Gokudera's decision but what about Lal Mirch? Would this be okay with her?

"Che, I bet it was just trying to hurt you, maybe it wanted to get a taste of its meal later." Gokudera huffed under his breath still not happy about this decision at all.

Tsuna sighed at the over exaggerating friend of his. He was going to have to learn that not everything was bad. Though… this WAS Mukuro they were talking about. He hadn't felt anything bad though so he thought that it would be just fine.

"Are you sure you are okay with this? Also… would Lal Mirch be okay with this?" Tsuna asked her.

"I'm perfectly fine with it." Lal Mirch said walking out into the doorway.

Mukuro smiled and he gave Mukurowl one last look before he decided to take his leave before Gokudera would have something else to try to fight with him about.

"Well then since this is taken care of I'll be taking my leave now." Mukuro said with a slight flick of the wrist serving as his goodbye salute and he walked away.

The other four looked at each other and up at the sky to roughly guess the time.

"Well we have to go home too." Yamamoto said.

"Yeah I guess so." Tsuna nodded.

"All of you try to be good to Haru." Gokudera said looking at all of the animals there.

Ryohei was starting to jog in place wanting to go on a jog before he went home to do his homework eat dinner and then go back out on a late night jog.

"Bye bye~" Haru waved as the four left. "So Lal Mirch, why are you out here? It couldn't possibly be because you have heard me talking to the others just now, could it?" Haru questioned the little incomplete Arcobaleno.

The said Arcobaleno looked up at the sky and then checked the time with her goggles that she had adorned over her eyes.

"You are correct Haru, I'm waiting for someone. He should be here any moment now." Lal Mirch said as she spotted something descending from the sky.

Haru looked up to see something falling down as well. At first it just looked like a black spot, but it kept getting bigger and bigger so the shape of the dot became more defined as time went on.

Haru was able to make the shape out to be a person.

"Yo yo yo yo yo yo~"

Haru's face lit up once she knew who this descending person was. "Is this Giannini-san?" Haru questioned Lal Mirch who only answered with a curt head nod.

"Indeed, I am Giannini, Haru. It's nice to see you again. I was called over to see if I could help out." He said looking down at Lal Mirch who pulled out a huge stack of papers.

"This, is the information that Verde worked out when making the Vongola gear rings." Lal Mirch said handing them over to him.

Giannini took the papers and his levitating chair sunk down a bit from the weight of the stack of papers and he started to skim through the massive pile of papers.

"W-well this may take me a very long while to get these all worked through. This is all very complicated and it won't be too easy for me to understand." Giannini admitted.

"How long?" Lal Mirch asked him.

"About a month."

Haru looked down at the animals that were patiently looking up at her to play with them.

"Well, Haru's time is going to be a very long and dangerous one." Haru sighed but she is the one that decided to take up this challenge and she wasn't going to give up until she was finished.

* * *

><p>[1]Mukurowl= Now, I understand that it's MukuroMukurou. Fukurou= owl. So as a pun on his name and the animal the owl was named Mukurou, though to make it easier for the fans to understand some fansubbers spelt it as Mukurowl to make the pun more obvious. Since this way I can't possibly accidentally mess up with the spellings, I'll make the owl's name 'Mukurowl' to make it a bit more obvious about whom I am referring to.

**HEY! BY THE WAY! I'm holding a contest! I was bored that's why before you ask. Ha ha interested? **

**Go and check out my forum and check it out. I won't tell you what the contest entails since you will actually go to read it if you are interested enough. I will tell you this that perhaps the prizes just may be interesting for you all. **

Other than that note, I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter as much as I found it funny and somewhat cute! HA HA!

Until next time!

-Neospice12


	3. I've Been Replaced?

Well you're all back for more, huh? Hopefully this story is good enough for you all to use up your time reading. 8)

Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer is applied here

* * *

><p><strong>I've Been Replaced? <strong>

It was another day in the big house and Haru was walking around the hallways making some rounds to make sure that the animals weren't going too crazy or anything.

She was watching as the animals were all running about playing with each other.

Haru was feeling that everything was okay when she heard a small whimper behind the couch.

Haru craned her neck to see a light orange mane that belonged to Natsu shivering in the corner of the room behind the couch.

Natsu seemed like he was too scared to play with the animals and was also scared of the humans as well.

Haru knelt next to the couch and she looked down at the poor little lion cub. "Natsu? You okay sweety?" Haru questioned him.

"Gao!" Natsu inched away from her, rolling his body in a defensive curl and he shivered more.

"Now Natsu, I won't hurt you. Come now, if you want to play with someone, I will play with you. You mustn't be so shy and scared that you don't play with any of the other animals. It's too lonely." Haru said with a small frown feeling bad for the poor lion cub.

The Lion cub stared at her uneasily, unsure of what to do with this female human in front of her. His master seemed to be rather uneasy around her most of the time. Was she a scary person? He got along well with the other female human, was she less scary?

The lion cub wasn't willing to take any 'drastic chances' just yet. He was going to wait before he even believed her words.

"Come here Natsu, I'll play with you so you won't be so shy. Haru can love you just as much as Tsuna-san does."

Love? This female human loved his master? Why would the master be so uneasy around her then? Is love wrong?

It couldn't be wrong, now could it?

Natsu decided to be brave and he slowly moved one paw in front of the other one edging himself closer to her slowly.

Haru's gaze softened some and she reached her arms to pick him up and she brought him to her chest, holding onto him comfortably.

Natsu struggled in her arms until Haru's hand softly petted his mane. Natsu stopped struggling and he relaxed in her arms purring a little bit. Who knew that lion cubs could purr? Haru was sure that they couldn't but who heard of animals coming out from boxes anyways? It could happen.

Natsu rubbed against Haru cheek happily, licking the bottom of her chin.

This… was comfortable. It was nice.

She was warm, she was kind, and it was comforting to be around her. She wasn't scary at all! She didn't make him feel uneasy. His master… was odd for being so uneasy around her.

Haru giggled and she set him down on her lap so he could curl up onto her lap and look up at him with those cute eyes of his.

"Gao~" Natsu smiled with a lovable grin on his face.

Haru giggled and she pulled out a ball from her pocket. She learned that if she wanted some time for herself, she'd have to start carrying some animal toys with her to distract the animals with.

She held the red ball in front of Natu's face and waved it back and forth noticing that his eyes were following the movements of the ball carefully.

Haru tossed the ball across the room with a flick of her wrist and Natsu ran after the ball, jumping onto it rolling across the floor as he lost his stable footing on the ground.

Natsu landed with the ball underneath him and he sunk his teeth into the ball and he ran over to Haru dropping it into her hand.

"Gao gao!"

This was pretty fun! Tsuna would often play with Natsu as well and for as long as he wanted, and she was doing the same! Natsu liked her!

Haru kept throwing the ball for Natsu until the little lion cub lay on his stomach panting tiredly.

"It looks like it's time for one of those lengthy lion naps. Come here Natsu, you can take a nap with Haru then." Haru suggested holding out her hands for him to run into.

Natsu's head rose up from the ground to see her inviting arms, pushing himself off the ground onto his feet, he ran into Haru's arms.

Haru leaned against the couch and she petted him slowly and gently trying to be as soothing as she could to him.

Her eyes were feeling heavier with every blink she took, barely hanging on until she felt Natu's soft, slow breathing ending with a small purr.

With Natsu finally going to sleep, Haru let herself fall into slumber as well the two of them sleeping together with each other's company.

The two slept together letting t he time just pass them by without much of a care.

Natu was curled up in Haru's arms sleeping, taking in the sounds around in as he slept.

A few footsteps were heard hitting the ground.

Natsu's ears twitched as he heard the clumsy footsteps that had an irregular stepping rhythm that tripped over various things in the room including themselves.

These footsteps seemed…so… familiar… like they belonged to someone he cared for, but whose footsteps were they again?

Natsu couldn't place his paw on it, snuggling up to Haru pushing the owner of the footsteps out of his mind.

The footsteps were getting louder though, and they even stopped right in front of them.

Natsu cracked open an eye warily to see a familiar face, Tsunayoshi Sawada's face to be exact.

Natsu lifted up his head to smile up at Tsuna happily, and then he dropped his head back down to continue laying in her comfortable hold.

Now this was odd… Natsu would always come running up to Tsuna the first chance he got no matter what.

Maybe his vision was blurry from his sleepiness?

"Natsu, what's wrong? It's me." Tsuna questioned his box animal trying to get the little lion's attention.

He waved his arms around but to no avail not receiving any attention from the lion. Natsu continued to snuggle up to Haru comfortingly his ear twitching happily. Haru was just so soundly asleep that Tsuna didn't have the heart to try waking her up from her blissful sleep.

Caring for all of these animals must be hard and she deserved her sleep.

"Tsuna, it looks like he likes Haru. He's warmed up to her." Lal Mirch said walking up into the scene.

"I wonder what caused that to happen." Tsuna wondered a bit confused over how Natsu was very attached to Haru right now when Natsu was always so attached to himself. Sometimes Natsu would even climb onto him and dig his claws into his skin so they couldn't be separated so easily.

"Who knows, now stop staring at a woman sleeping, you creep." Lal Mirch insulted im.

"W-what? I'm no creep!" Tsuna defended himself nervously, but he said it loud enough to jerk both Haru and Natsu awake again.

Haru jolted awake almost knocking Natsu off of her and she frantically looked around, half asleep still.

"W-what? Is there a fire-desu? Did the animals get into another fight? Are they hungry? Did someone get hurt?" She questioned, showing the worries that she always had to worry about when caring for all the animals.

Tsuna waved his arms around wildly.

"AH! Sorry! I didn't mean to wake you!" Tsuna apologized to her. "You… can just go back to sleep Haru. You've been doing a great job." Tsuna said with a smile.

Haru smiled tiredly at him and she yawned a bit. Natsu already went back to sleep, curled up in her lap.

Haru's eyes slowly blinked closed and Haru drifted back into slumber. Tsuna watched her as she was lulling back into sleep.

"Thank you, Haru has been working hard-desu. If you… don't mind then… Haru will be … sleep…ing… now…" Haru whispered quietly.

She was so peaceful and she had a look of elegance about her as she slept? Haru was surely a strong girl watching over all of these animals with just herself and Lal Mirch. Haru was watching them all without complaining much.

She still found the energy to smile and bear through the hardships she placed onto herself.

Haru was so caring and was a beautiful girl inside and out. This was probably what drew Natsu close to her.

"Good night Haru." Tsuna smiled as he watched her sleep.

"Creep." Lal Mirch huffed as she hopped out of the room much to Tsuna's dismay.

Heh, poor Tsuna. LOVE Lal Mirch. LOL yesss go verbally abuse Tsuna. XD

* * *

><p>Has anyone wondered why I always seem to update "Pet Sitting Woes" and "White Feathers, Friend or Foe?" together? Do you also wonder why I'm being somewhat quicker about updating these two than the other stories?<p>

Do you recall that one time when I had updated 7 things at the same time? Well I actually had 3 chapters of both of those stories in advance so when I'm busy with college I'd update then whenever I felt like it. So this is the last of the chapters that are already finished in advance. I started on chapter 4 on both of the stories but am not close enough to even say I'm halfway there. You will actually have to wait a while for these both of these stories to be updated from now on.

I try to work on every single story at a random stories at random times, so I don't work on one story only and then work on another one. This is a lot quicker for me updating-wise.

Why am I telling you all this? I dunno, I feel proud of how I cheated pretty much. I did so much over the summer. I love summer time. =w=

HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS!

Before I forget:

**I HAVE A CONTEST! CHECK MY FORUM (link found in my profile) IF YOU WANT TO READ ON THE DETAILS! I HOPE TO SEE PEOPLE JOINING IN ON THE CONTEST! LET'S SPREAD THE HARU LOVE SHALL WE? **

Until next time!

- Neospice12


	4. The Lonely Soul

Well here we are! Chapter 4.

Hopefully this project isn't too bad so far. I just love all of the animals so I just had to write this project out. I can only hope that this project isn't too dry. It may be towards the beginning but I'm thinking it will get better towards the end.

I can only wish for the best!

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me. WHOO!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4- Gokudera: The Lonely Soul<strong>

Haru was in her room reading some books and studying. Her parents knew that she was being home tutored by Reborn, but they didn't know that Reborn had disappeared just yet.

She took it upon herself to study on her own, and sometimes even Lal Mirch tried to help her study as well.

The animals were getting accustomed to living at the house with Haru and were learning how to behave and not cause too much trouble for the both of them so Haru had more time to study.

Haru had been diligently working for a few hours when she decided that she was done for the day. It wasn't healthy to study too much after all; it was too overwhelming for the brain which could end up with her forgetting everything she was trying to learn.

That isn't any good progress at all, so Haru put away her books and she decided to walk downstairs to see if there was anything that she could do.

It was perhaps mid-afternoon right about now and she hadn't seen the animals for maybe a few hours and she was a bit worried about how they were doing.

They were being… rather quiet and well-behaved. By now Uri was going to start badgering her for attention or she would be starting a fight with someone at this point.

Haru stared at the door to her room not hearing a thing.

No little claws scratching at her door, no animals groaning in pain or anger.

"Bark bark bark!"

"Gao! Gao!"

"Moouuuu!"

There it was.

"Hai hai, Haru is coming." Haru sighed walking out of her room expecting to see a big fight having erupted in the living room or something but instead she saw someone playing around with all of the animals in her stead.

In front of her, she saw the ever so tempermental storm guardian, Gokudera Hayato himself.

What was he doing here?

"Gokudera? What are you doing here?" She questioned him.

Gokudera stopped playing with the animals and he turned around to look at her.

"Hmph, I'm free right now so I thought that I might as well come and try to help you out this once." He huffed a simple answer.

Haru was still more than happy to know that she was receiving a bit of help today; even if it was very uncharacteristic of the person who offered to help.

She smiled at him and nodded her head. "Alright, thank you for wanting to help out Gokudera." Haru giggled kneeling down to the ground and both Uri and Natsu ran towards her and hopped into her lap- that is until Uri kicked him off.

"Now now Uri-" "Kora! Uri! You can't do that to Juudaime's box animal! He's your boss!" Gokudera shouted at his box animal.

Uri in retaliation hissed, jumping up onto Gokudera's face and proceeded to claw at his face.

Haru nervously looked around the room for something to quell Uri's anger with, and she was carefully watching Natsu who was looking for a hiding place to hide at because of Uri's rather violent actions towards him.

Oh my, things were still as busy and troublesome as always.

"A-Ano, Uri-chan, come on, come here. Haru has a little treat for you." She said holding up a small mackerel between her fingers.

Uri hopped off Gokudera's face and hopped towards Haru waiting for her to drop the fish for her to enjoy.

Haru sighed and she dropped the fish, and picked up a small ball from the couch and she whistled. "Come on out Natsu~ Let's play ball together." Haru called out.

Natsuo peeked out from beneath the couch and he crawled out appearing between Haru's feet.

"Gao Gao."

Haru smiled bouncing the ball off the ground.

Natsu started to run in circles trying to catch the ball but it was a bit fast for him and the polished wooden floors were a bit slippery, and he was sliding everywhere.

Haru giggled and she tossed the ball into the hallway and she watched as Natsu and Jirou went running after the ball.

She watched as the two of them rolled around on the ground trying to get the ball, playing with one another, wrestling for fun.

The other animals were either napping or doing their own thing.

"So, are you here because Tsuna-san told you to be here?" She asked, being a bit suspicious of his coming to help her.

Gokudera huffed to himself, grumbling.

Pushing his hands into his pockets, hunching his back a bit, one of his quirks when annoyed at someone or something, Haru guessed that she either hit the spot or she was dead wrong.

"I just felt like helping okay? You don't have to psychoanalyze me or anything you know." Gokudera hissed.

Haru grinned and nodded her head not wanting to say anything else to aggravate him anymore than he already was.

Gokudera was always a funny character, pretending to be angry at times when he was really just a bit shy.

Haru walked into the kitchen to take a look at things.

Lal Mirch was already in the kitchen with a clip board at hand taking inventory of the supplies that they had.

"We have everything Haru, no problems at all. We have enough to last till the end of the week. We will have to go shopping next weekend." She said.

Haru nodded her head watching as Gyuudon was sleeping on the floor, next to where his food was usually given to him.

Noticing where Haru's gaze landed, Lal Mirch had a good guess as to what Haru was thinking to herself.

"I had Gyuudon go down to the basement and move around. He got his exercise for today. I trained all of the animals and gave them a good work out while you were studying." Lal Mirch told her.

Haru sighed in relief unsure of how she'd be able to handle all of those animals if she had to do that.

Luckily she had Lal Mirch with her to make her job a bit easier.

Gokudera was looking over the check list that was taped onto the wall to see what they had to do every day.

Feed all off the animals, make sure they got some exercise, clean up after them, play with them, and a ton of other things on the list.

"Wow that's a lot." Gokudera said realizing just how much work they had dumped onto Haru and Lal Mirch.

Haru shook her head and sat in a chair, resting in it.

It was a lot of work for her and it always tired her out, but the way she saw it, she was the one that would probably most suit this job, and she did have fun with it at least.

"RRYYA!"

"G-Ga-gao!"

"Ng-iing!"

Oh dear, that was Uri acting up again.

It sounds as if she caught up with Natsu and Jirou and proceeded to bully them.

Haru was about to get up from her seat when Gokudera told her that he could handle it.

She remained seated like she was told nervously, wondering if this was truly the best choice of action for her to be making. She wanted to be able to trust him though so she waited in her seat, only thinking about the possibilities of how Gokudera would solve this mess.

"Ryaa! Rya Ryaa! Phhfft pphffft!"

Upon Uri's hissing, Haru pushed herself out of the seat to see what was going on.

Gokudera was sitting down with a cat toy in his hand and Uri was jumping around trying to bite the cat toy but Gokudera would always pull it away from her, playing around with her.

Uri was attacking the furry cat tail looking toy, hissing in frustration at how she couldn't quite get a hold of the toy.

Natsu and Jirou were back to playing ball together, passing it to one another.

Haru watched as Gokudera played with Uri silently with a small smile on his face.

'So this was the reason why Gokudera wanted to help out. He wanted to see Uri and play with her.' Haru mentally giglged to herself.

"You know, you are free to come and play with Uri any time you want to." She told him trying to stifle back a small laugh.

Nothing would get past Haru, she knew that of the toys that they had in the house, the toy he was holding was not one of the ones they had. It was a toy that he brought along with him.

She didn't miss the treats that he laid out right next to him either.

It seemed as though he did like Uri and did miss playing with her every once in a while.

Even though she was always clawing at his face and he'd be shouting verbally abusive words towards her, he would always look after her, care for her, and play with her.

He really did care.

'Perhaps… Gokudera isn't the barbarian Haru thought he was. He has a sweet side to him as well.' Haru thought as she watched the way he gave Uri special treatment.

Gokudera stopped the toy from moving and Uri stole the toy running off into the hall with her prize.

"D- Idiot! I didn't come here to play with Uri. Why would I do that? You need your eyes checked." Gokudera huffed, yelling at her defensively.

Normally Haru would get offended and fight back, but… she had this feeling that this is how he acted when he was embarrassed.

"Hai, hai, if you say so Gokudera." Haru giggled.

"Kora! Stop laughing at me you stupid woman! I didn't come here to just see Uri!"

Haru grinned at Gokudera, leaning against the doorway to the kitchen.

"Gokudera, I never said that." She smirked.

He didn't say anything, being silent as he realized that he dug himself into a corner.

He just grunted, picking up another ball and threw it into the hallway to have Jirou and Natsu run after it as if to disguise the fact that he was giving Uri special treatment.

* * *

><p>HOPE YOU LIKED IT!<p>

ALRIGHT~! I know for the most part, a lot of my readers are either Gokudera x Haru fans, or Hibari x Haru fans as those two are winning in the poll on my profile.

For the Hibari x Haru fans, Hibari makes his appearance in the next chapter! Yay! Finally! I know, lol.

Look forward to it!

Until next time!

-Neospice12


	5. Herbivores are Cute

No, I didn't forget about this story, no worries there.

Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me, though I wish they did. They belong to Akira Amano.

* * *

><p><strong>Herbivores are Cute, huh?<strong>

Haru was pouring all of the food into the bowls for the respective animals. The animals would all pour into the kitchen area and start eating all of their food.

Haru stopped to notice something.

Next to Mukurowl was a familiar yellow bird. Also, right next to Natsu, who had just ran behind Haru's leg was a small hedgehog.

"Haru doesn't recall being in charge of caring for you both." Haru said looking over at Lal mirch for assistance.

Lal Mirch looked over the hedgehog who looked overjoyed by the fact he was running around the kitchen in circles.

The yellow bird that most of them referred to as Hibird flew around in circles around Mukurowl and then would perch right next to him on his food stand.

"They both belong to Hibari Kyouya. It seems as though they felt lonely while Hibari was at school and decided to find their friends." Lal Mirch offered a theory as to why the two animals were there.

Haru pursed her lips, pulling out a small little book and flipped through it.

She had bought a book about animals, and she looked up hedgehogs and little birds.

Once she figured out what was basically included in their diet, she fetched some food for them and placed them in bowls for them.

She wasn't sure if they were hungry or not, but she might as well feed them seeing as they were going to be with them until school was out, which was going to take a few hours.

"Well Haru doesn't have to care for them, but she might as well. They are cute little animals, and if anything happened to his animal friends, who knows what Hibari-san would do." Haru shivered at the mere thought of what the dangerous prefect would do to her.

Hibird was pecking at the food in the bowl, and Roll had climbed into the bowl and was eating the food inside of it. He fit inside of the bowl perfectly, and it was so cute watching him eat the food that was provided for him.

Haru giggled, watching over all of the animals eat.

"GAO!"

Natsu was eating his food when Uri, decided to be a gluttonous little kitten and pushed Natsu away to steal his food. Haru shook her head and sighed, picking up the mischievous feline.

"Now now, Uri, don't bully Natsu when he's eating. Come with Haru and we can play." Haru smiled, petting the top of Uri's head.

She rubbed her cheek against Uri's and Uri rubbed against Haru's cheek as well, happily, producing a very small purring sound.

Haru giggled bringing her to the living room so the two of them could play together with a bouncy red ball.

She would toss it and Uri would run after it, pounce on it, roll around a few times before slapping it over to Haru so she could toss it again.

Haru would try tossing it in different directions to make the trajectory of the ball a bit more spontaneous, hoping that by doing this, it would amuse Uri more.

"Wan!"

Jiro wanted to play too by the looks of things.

Uri hissed and Jiro whimpered licking Haru's hand.

She started to pet Jiro giving him attention.

Uri dropped the ball and jumped into Haru's lap rolling onto her back to show her stomach.

Haru rubbed her stomach to appease the jealousy-prone cat.

"NNNNGGG~" Jiro whined pawing at Haru's arm.

Soon even Nezumi ran up to her and ran in circles around her.

"Haru! Haru!" Hibari nestled into her hair and made a mini-nest of her hair.

Haru just sat there as she was being surrounded by all of these animals.

More animals started to flock around her and want attention.

They must've missed their original owners so much that they just craved attention from someone.

Haru had her hands full trying to give equal attention to all of the animals, and Uri was making things very difficult for her.

Luckily Kangaryuu loved boxing with Lal Mirch and Gyuudon just liked eating, sleeping, and then running around downstairs in the fitness room.

She didn't have to worry about them, but the rest of the animals liked having her attention.

Kojiro perched ontop of Jiro's head singing a small song. The small swallow bird always seemed to be with his canine companion.

It may be because they are both box animals that belong to the friendly Yamamoto and they stuck together because they were used to each other.

Haru continued pet, play, and break up all of the fights between all of the animals.

Before she knew it, it was time for classes to end.

"Roll, Hibird, I'm sure Hibari-san will get worried if he can't find you so let's go and find him." Haru said.

Upon hearing Hibari's name the two animal's focused on Haru. Roll jumped into her arms and Hibird sat on Haru's shoulder.

"Lal Mirch-san, would you mind watching over the rest of the animals while I go and drop Hibird and Roll off to Hibari-san?" Haru called out.

Haru could hear a few thumping noises from down below. Lal Mirch was still fighting with Kangaryuu it seemed.

"Yeah, go on, I can handle the animals just fine." Lal Mirch called from the basement.

Haru left the house with the two animals on her person.

She walked all the way to the school that was only 10 minutes away by walking.

As soon as she walked through the gate the image of Hibari walking around the school grounds as if he were looking for something could be seen immediately.

It didn't seem like he was looking for troublemakers however.

She approached him and the two animals got his attention by crying out.

"Hibari, Hibari!"

Hibari paused and turned to see Haru with his cute animal companions.

His shoulders lowered as a sign of him relaxing.

At least he found his animal friends. He was worried that some animal had gone and eaten them.

"So they were with you with whole time? Why?" Hibari questioned her.

Haru thought about it and she guessed it was because they missed their friends.

"Right now all of the box animals are staying with Haru and Lal Mirch in a big house because everyone else can't keep their animals at home. We are waiting for the problem to clear up. Perhaps they just wanted to meet their friends." Haru guessed.

Hibari nodded his head.

It did surprise him when Roll popped out from the ring and wasn't able to return.

However he didn't really mind since he liked animals, so having Roll and Hibird with him was fun.

He would even sometimes feed Roll some of the Cloud flames if it begged for some.

Hibari just couldn't ignore a cute animal after all.

"Haru can look after Roll for you as well if you'd like so you don't have to worry about Roll when you are at school." She offered.

Hibari looked at the two animals and looked as though he was deep in thought.

He couldn't bring animals with him to school of course and it worried him to just leave them home alone for hours on end.

Roll was really attached to him after all. He would try to get Roll to sleep on a bed made for him but every time he woke up Roll would end up on his bed sleeping right next to him.

If he went out for a walk or to go grocery shopping Roll would be crying at the door trying to dig through it because it was lonely.

The hedgehog definitely needed some company or it would be very sad. It pulled on his heart strings a little bit to see Roll crying every time he came home. Guess Roll got so lonely it found a way to escape.

"I shall allow for you to look after Hibird and Nezumi for a while, though if they wish to visit me, you should just let them do so since they are quite attached to me." Hibari said as Hibird nestled into Hibari's hair and Roll managed to hop into Hibari's hand letting out a satisfied 'Gyupii!' cry.

Haru nodded her head understanding what he was saying.

"You get to stay with Haru, Roll, Hibird." Haru giggled. Hibird nestled into Haru's hair and Nezumi estatically ran around Haru in circles and would occasionally roll itself into a ball and just teeter totter from side to side.

Haru picked up the small hedgehog and she pet the top of its head gently.

"Gupyii!" Nezumi nuzzled against her finger and would bump into her finger with its nose.

"Well then let's follow Haru to where everyone is staying so you know where to find these two if you ever want to check up on them." Haru said leading the way to the big house.

Hibari followed her taking in his surroundings to remember the way to the house from the school.

It wasn't going to be too hard since Hibari really knew his way around the town, and he was very intelligent.

The two didn't talk much while walking to the house since there wasn't much to talk about.

The two of them never really talked much at all, and this was one of the handful of times they've actually been near each other.

Haru stopped in front of a house and she walked in after unlocking the door.

She expected to be greeted by all of the animals but none of them met her at the door.

She looked inside to see that they were all sitting next to Lal Mirch obediently.

"I'm back and I brought Hibari-san with me." She said walking into the house and she stepped to the side for Hibarito walk in as well.

Nezumi and Hibird made their way towards their animal friends and seemed quite content being with their animal brethren.

Hibari took the time to look at the inside of the house and look for any possible threats to his animals, like the felines.

"Do make sure that Roll and Hibird are safe. I wouldn't want to have to explain to some herbivore as to why I killed his box weapon for harming either of them." Hibari advised her.

Haru nodded her head, kneeling down on the ground, "Hibird, Roll come to Haru."

Hibird flew over to her shoulder and Nezumi ran towards her, leaping into her hands. "Gyupii!"

"Haru is going to take good care of the both of you. You can visit Hibari-san whenever you want, and Haru will be sure to keep you safe from harm." Haru promised them.

The animals could vaguely make sense of what she was saying.

They could stay and play with their friends!

"Are you happy?" Haru asked.

"Pii pii! Gu-pi pi!" Nezumi hopped out of her hands and continued to run around her in circles as if it was trying to make Haru dizzy.

Haru giggled trying to calm down the little hedgehog but it was too excited to be calmed. She just let it run around in circles.

"You're so cute, Roll." She giggled, receiving small pecks on the cheek from Hibird. "Of course you are cute too." She smiled.

Feeling content enough to leave his animals with Haru, Hibari decided to take his leave without saying anything.

Like a cloud, he just came and went as he pleased.

Since school was over and his henchmen were probably patrolling the school he could just head home.

'Hm… I've never seen Nezumi be that friendly with anyone but myself.' Hibari thought to himself as he had an image of Haru playing with Nezumi in his head. "Cute." He commented to himself.

* * *

><p>Wonder who he was referring to when he said it was 'cute'. FU FU~<p>

I'll leave it to your imagination. B)

Hope you enjoyed it!

-Neospice12


	6. Impression to the EXTREME!

Just so we all know i'm just going to update as I see fit. I'm not going to bother updating in an order anymore. Too much pressure on me and ughhh yeah. I'm not going to explain my whole thought process since I don't think anyone really cares.

Moving on.

Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me and belong to their own respectable owners.

* * *

><p><strong>Impression to the EXTREME! <strong>

Two animals were about to go at it with one another and Haru Miura was on the side trying to calm them down.

"Ehhhh Kangaryuu calm down. You too Gyuudon. No reason to start a fight now." Haru spoke gently but her words were going unnoticed.

The two animals were grunting and showing signs of displeasure.

Whipping their tails back and forth, bearing their fists/horns, kicking at the ground, you name it.

The situation happened when Uri was being mischievous by messing around with Kangaryuu by climbing over her and slapping her with her small paws.

Kangaryuu was being patient at first because Uri was a small little feline, it wasn't like she meant any harm.

She was probably just playing around. Still, annoying is still annoying.

Her master was annoying as well, always picking fights with Ryohei.

Kangaryuu bared her fights and tried to punch the feline, but she missed when Uri jumped away.

Instead, Kangaryuu punched Gyuudon.

The bull turned to look at who had the nerve to punch him.

No human or animal would be okay with being hurt for no reason.

Kangaryuu leaned back onto her tail and had her hands up as a sign of peace, but the irritable bull didn't want to have any of that and charged.

By jumping over the bull, Kangaryuu escaped pain, and Gyuudon crashed into some furniture, which is what alerted Haru to the whole situation.

That is how they found themselves in this situation.

Kangaryuu wasn't going to let this bull inflict pain on her without a fight.

Might as well train since Ryohei wasn't around. She needed some exercise.

Gyuudon just wanted revenge.

The air was silent and tense around them, the other carefully watching the other.

Waiting for a perfect time to attack.

Gyuudon made the first move charging at the kangaroo.

Kangaryuu stood on her tail getting her legs and her fists ready to deal a knock-out blow to the bull.

"AH! No fighting-desu! Someone will get hurt!" Haru screamed at the two animals.

Furniture was being tossed to the side as Gyuudon thrased his horns to the side as he charged.

Haru ducked trying to avoid the tumbling furniture and she couldn't bear to look at the fighting animals.

After the sound of the tumbling furniture stopped, a loud thud was heard and nothing was heard after that.

She braved herself to look up to see the two animals standing.

Ryohei was in the middle of them and he stopped them both.

Kangaryuu wouldn't harm her master and Gyuudon was stopped when Ryohei grabbed his horns and pulled back.

"Kangaryuu what happened?" Ryohei asked.

Gyuudon made some hand movements and made some grunting sounds.

Ryohei merely nodded his head in understanding- or at least that's what it appeared to be.

"I see so Uri was messing with you so you tried to hit her but you hit Gyuudon instead. Mmhmm. Okay! I got the situation. Kangaryuu you are the bigger animal. Shouldn't hit smaller things-you'd kill her. Gyuudon, you should at least listen to explanations before you try to attack first. You'd get Lambo in trouble that way." Ryohei explained.

Kangaryuu nodded her head and Gyuudon dropped his head as if to say sorry.

Slowly he trotted his way into the kitchen to graze on some hay.

Ryohei started to fix the overturned furniture and Kangaryuu decided to help her master in his exploits of cleaning their mess.

"Ah, Haru, you were here. You okay?" Ryohei asked her.

Haru sat up, fixing her clothes. "I'm fine, thank you." She thanked him.

Ryohei flashed her a smile. "Good! Can't have you getting hurt now can we?" He laughed, slapping her back.

Haru kept lunging forward as he kept hitting her back.

He didn't seem to know his strength very well but that was okay. He was pretty cool today she noticed.

She didn't know that he could actually be pretty serious. It was pretty cool actually.

Ryohei wasn't that weird senpai that was always doing stupid things.

"Alright! Let's organize the furniture into a boxing ring!" "Gyooo!"

Okay, maybe he was still a weird senpai.

* * *

><p>I'm sorry. Ryohei is just hard for me to write out- mayhaps because in the future I think he's with Hana? Alskjflakjfakf<p>

Sorry about that. Still, I wanted to give him a chance so here he is. OTL

Until next time, everyone.

-Neospice21


	7. Overflowing Tears

I don't really have much to say other than sorry for taking so long. I'm not sure why it even took me this long to do so since YamaHaru is like one of my OTPs. It's a mystery.

Disclaimer: All of the characters belong to Akira Amano. The plotline of the story belongs to me.

* * *

><p><strong>Yamamoto: Over Flowing Tears<strong>

Haru was staring at Jirou one day in an empty room.

Jirou's tail kept wagging as she stared at him.

"You… look like this dog I think." Haru went back to staring at the laptop screen before her.

She was looking up the breed of dog that Jirou was. She knew what kind of animals the other was but she didn't know what Jirou was so she looked it up.

He was an Akita-inu.

"Hahi? Jirou, there is a movie about you. How interesting, it's in English? It's even based on a real story-desu! This sounds interesting!" Haru quickly looked it up and went searching for the movie.

She managed to find it online so she pulled it up on her laptop and brought it to the living room to watch it on the comfy couch comfortably.

Jirou hopped onto her lap as soon as she sat down on the couch and set the laptop on the table in front of the couch.

As the movie was playing, some of the other animals sat down to watch the movie along with her. They didn't completely understand what was going on in the movie but it was interesting to watch all of these people speak in a language they didn't understand.

Halfway through the movie Haru started to have a bad feeling in her stomach.

This movie was going to be painful, she could feel it in her bones.

The movie progressed and the urge to bawl her eyes out grew stronger and stronger.

Haru was soon bawling her eyes out as she watched the poor dog wait patiently for his owner who passed away.

For years he sat at the train station, waiting.

He even died at the place he always waited for his owner. A tale of a loyal dog who couldn't forget his owner even in death.

"HA-Hahi! HAHIK-HACHIKOO!" Haru bawled loudly.

Being caught off guard by her suddenly bursting out into tears the animals started panicking. They didn't know why she was crying and didn't know what to do to help.

Upon hearing the ruckus Lal Mirch walked in to see Haru crying on the couch and the animals running around in a flustered frenzy.

Jirou started to howl alongside Haru.

"… Okay then." Lal mirch retreated out of the room to find solitude in the sparring room which was sound proof.

While she was down there she decided to ring up a few numbers to make Haru stop crying.

In a matter of minutes three people walked through the front door to bear witness to the crazy situation.

"H-Haru are you okay?" Tsuna cautiously approached her slowly.

Beside Tsuna was Gokudera and Yamamoto.

Jirou and Haru ran up to Yamamoto and tackled him down to the ground. "YOU AREN'T ALLOWED TO DIE!" Haru cried.

Jirou wasn't completely sure what was going on but as a dog he was able to pick up on Haru's distressed emotions and followed her actions.

Yamamoto nervously looked at Gokudera and Tsuna for help. The desperate look on his face screamed, 'I don't know how to stop a girl from crying! I'm just a baseball nut! HELP ME!'

Gokudera scoffed and shrugged his shoulders. Tsuna attempted to help by motioning that he should just start by patting her head or something.

Leave it to Tsuna to give near useless advice.

"H-Haru? Are you okay? Why are you crying?" Yamamoto asked.

Haru sniffled, sitting up on his stomach. She was coming close to calming down since the movie had finished about 10 minutes ago.

"H-Haru looked up the breed of dog Jirou was. She f-found out that there was a movie about him. It was so touching. You definitely aren't allowed to die and leave Jirou alone!" The waterworks started up once more and she was bawling her eyes out.

Jirou barked loudly as he ran in circles around his master and Haru.

He would occasionally tug on her shirt and whine.

"Jirou, stop making such a ruckus." Yamamoto tried to order Jirou but he wouldn't listen. He just got noisier as Haru's tears kept falling down her face.

She brought Jirou into a big bear hug and cried into his fur.

Jirou sat quietly, patiently waiting for her to stop crying. He would lick the tears off her face trying to console her quietly.

Tsuna and Gokudera inspected the laptop and read the synopsis of the movie.

"Oh, it's the story of Hachiko. You know that dog that waited loyally for his owner to come back to him years after his owner died." Gokudera recognized the story.

He felt a lot of respect for the story.

Gokudera could only say that if he had to compare himself to an animal it would probably be Hachiko.

He would forever be loyal to his boss! Even if he died, his loyalty would forever be pledged to Tsuna.

What a wonderful story. It almost brought tears to his face.

Almost.

Yamamoto smiled and pet both Haru's and Jirous heads gently.

"I'm not going anywhere Haru. Stop crying, okay?" Yamamoto flashed her a friendly smile.

Haru wiped the tears out of her eyes and nodded her head.

Holding out her pinky for him, she waited for him to make her a pinky promise.

"You aren't allowed to die and leave Jirou alone to wait for you to come back. I don't want to watch him die a slow death." She pouted cutely.

Yamamoto shook his head, laughing a little bit. "I won't die that easily Haru. Stop trying to kill me off already. Geez." Yamamoto joked.

Haru punched him in the shoulder, puffing her cheeks out angrily.

This was a serious matter! It wasn't a time for jokes!

She was seriously crying over the thought that he could die one day and leave Jirou alone!

"I have a lot to live for. Baseball, my friends, my family, and of course Jirou and Kojirou. If I died, I'd make Haru sad. I can't do that." Yamamoto grinned.

"If you die, Haru is going to bring you back to life and beat you up." She huffed.

Yamamoto simply nodded his head.

Jirou moved away from Haru and rubbed his head against Yamamoto's arm, his tail wagging quickly.

It was cute to see how much Jirou loved Yamamoto.

"Ah, by the way, can you get off of my stomach now?" Yamamoto asked.

Haru noticed that she was still sitting on his stomach and she quickly climbed off of his stomach, her face red as a tomato.

Yamamoto only laughed at how red she got.

"You look really cute when you blush like that. Suits you better than when you're crying." Yamamoto said.

Haru had to look in a direction away from Yamamoto since he was making her so flustered.

"You make it sound like you like Haru or something." Haru joked, trying to relieve the situation.

The problem was that Yamamoto didn't play along with her joke, since he didn't think it was a joke.

Gokudera and Tsuna who were listening to the whole conversation stared at Yamamoto with wide eyes.

"WAIT. Are you trying to say you've liked Haru this whole time?" Tsuna probed.

Yamamoto blinked a few times, confusion clearly written over his face.

He had thought it was pretty obvious?

"Yeah, I've liked her for a while now. I thought it was obvious? So that's why you have to listen really well to Haru, okay Jirou? You can't make me look bad." Yamamoto laughed, smooshing Jirou's face playfully.

"Wan wan!"

Haru had no idea he felt that way. Maybe she didn't notice because of how she was always chasing after Tsuna?

It was kind of hard to get someone out of your mind when you know that they like you.

"H-Haru needs to ah. Charge her laptop. Bye!" Haru grabbed her laptop and ran upstairs.

Yamamoto chuckled and stopped smooshing Jirou's face. "Well we made sure Haru is okay so let's go back." Yamamoto had his hands behind his head and walked out of the house like nothing happened.

Gokudera and Tsuna followed after him still in shock that he was able to admit that he liked Haru so easily.

* * *

><p>I based some of Jirou's reactions off my dog. If I'm ever crying my dog will not leave me alone until I'm done crying. She will make me pick her up and pet her. This is the only time she'll sit there patiently and let me pet her. [she likes to run away from me because she think I'm going to do something bad to her like give her medicine or bathe her] She will be noisy as if to distract me from what's making me sad. Lol<p>

Also, I always seem to make it a thing where Yamamoto has liked her for quite some time a lot of the time but that's because I think it's true. I LIVE FOR THIS STUFF OKAY? DON'T TAKE THIS FROM ME. I CRY OVER YAMAHARU A LOT. I SUPPORT THESE TWO WITH AN UNDYING PASSION. The only reason I don't write as much for them is because I don't know if I can handle writing them out without dying. From the cute. SHHH

-neospice12


	8. The King of Given Chances

Ah… sometimes I wonder why I even gave Tsuna a chance as I don't really like Tsuna x Haru but ya know, I should be fair about this. Maybe if I write for him enough I'll grow to like him? I dunno. We'll see.

Without further ado, here is the next chapter featuring Tsuna!

Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer applies to this fanfiction

* * *

><p><strong>The King of Given Chances<strong>

Today was just another day with Haru taking care of the animals while finding time to study on her own and occasionally get tutored by someone.

It was pretty lonely not being able to be with her friends, but this wasn't that bad either. She got to play around with all of these fun and cute animals after all!

It also worked out in her favor as she wasn't sure if she would be able to look at Yamamoto in the face after what happened last time. Was she that blinded by Tsuna that she didn't notice how he felt towards her?

Then again, Yamamoto was just so laid back, maybe she just didn't realize he was being serious and not acting with friendly intentions?

Regardless of what it was, she wanted to stay away from him for a while, and not going to school really helped out with that.

Since her mind has been a mess for quite a while now, Haru was clearing her mind with crafts! Currently, she was working on making different little things to put on the animals. Bonnets, collars, hoodies, little footsies and whatever else she felt like making.

For Uri, she made a little bonnet with flowers on top!

Making something for the birds was pretty difficult because she didn't want to make something that would hinder their flying like sweaters or hoodies would. So she decided to make a thin little scarf.

She was staring at Natsu, unsure of what to give him. Seeing as he was a lion, it would make sense to make a cape or a crown, right? A cape! That would be adorable! Watching him run around the place and have his cape fluttering around!

As soon as she thought this, she soon discarded the idea when she saw how clumsy the lion cub was. There was also the fact that he was constantly being bullied by Uri.

An image of Natsu tripping, having the cape get snagged on something, and finally choking the poor thing flooded her mind.

The cape was a no go.

"Haru could probably make a cute little crown and give it little holes for your ears to go through so it won't fall off." Haru immediately went to collect all of her fabric and yarn that she had. She was going to knit the crown and then decorate it with fabric and such.

Haru had been working on this for hours upon hours, making random decorations for all of the animals. Some of them didn't seem to care, but some of them didn't seem to like their little gifts from her.

Most of them gave up once Haru gave them a small little pout. They didn't want to make the girl sad, so they gave in and let her do as she pleased.

Uri was more on the selfish side who did what she wanted. She was trying to get her bonnet off of her, but she realized that the bonnet was placed on her head with a ribbon which was dangling in front of her face.

Instead of fighting with the bonnet to get it off of her head, she soon was playing around with it, trying to catch the ribbon.

Ignoring most of the noise around her, Haru was working on the little crown she wanted to make for Natsu. It was a good thing she had made something similar before so all she needed to do was add on to it.

Due to all of the stage plays that she was a part of, she had made many costumes and was able to reuse a lot of them to make even better costumes.

All she had to do now, is make sure the earholes fit on Natsu and then decorate the crown.

Suddnely, she could hear the front door opening and Haru's body froze, anticipating the worst.

Luckily for her, it wasn't Yamamoto, but Tsuna!

"Tsuna-san! Welcome! What is the reason for your visit today?" She asked him.

Tsuna was scanning the area when he first walked in and when Haru called over to him, he looked over at her and smiled.

Rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, "I just felt like visiting again is all." He laughed nervously.

Haru lowered her hands which was busy working on the crown to give her undivided attention to Tsuna. "It's so wonderful of you to visit. Haru was busy making costumes for the animals. Natsu is going to get a little crown because he's a lion-desu!" Haru showed him the work in progress.

It was just like her to make little costumes when she was bored.

That part of her never changed, but it wasn't a bad thing. He was always amazed by how well most of her costumes were made. They were really weird most of the time, but they were still well made, nonetheless.

"Is that so? I'm sure that Natsu would really like it. Have you made things for the other animals as well?" He asked.

Haru blinked a few times, as if not believing what was happening right now.

'Tsuna-san is asking for details? He… never really asks me for more information. What is wrong with him?' Haru wondered to herself.

He normally tried to have changed the topic by now. He didn't seem to care much for her little creations but today he seemed to want to know more?

Was the world ending today?

Still, Haru wasn't going to fight it. She welcomed it! Finally someone other than Kyoko was going to get excited with her about her costumes!

"I made Uri a bonnet and the birds have little scarves as you can see. Roll was given a cute little sweater! I haven't made anything for Gyuudon yet. I will save him for last since he's such a big animal. I plan on making Kangaryuu some mittens, like boxing gloves." Haru started to tell him the details.

Having heard the voice and catching the scent of his master, Natsu knew that Tsuna came for a visit!

He ran into the room and saw that Tsuna was talking to Haru. He quickly ran to his side and sat down patiently.

After three seconds, Natsu sported a shocked expression but also a fearful one.

Tsuna… wasn't picking him up?

He always picked him up.

What was wrong with this master?

Tsuna never ignored Natsu! Betrayal. Denial. Hurt.

Natsu felt all of these emotions and he started to panic on the inside when he realized that Tsuna was paying too much attention to Haru. This was new.

Running around them in a big circle, Natsu finally understood what was going on. Was his master starting to fancy this female?

Even with him running like this, they weren't paying any attention to him! Natsu scrunched up his body and made a huge jump, grabbing what Haru was working on with his teeth and made a run for it!

"H-Hahi! Natsu-chan!? H-Haru is working on that for you! Please give that back-desu!" Haru started to chase the little lion and Tsuna followed after Haru as well, trying to order Natsu to drop the crown.

The rebellious Lion refused to listen to his orders and continued to run.

If master was just going to ignore him, then what he had to do as a good box weapon was to help his master!

Courting females was like a battle, and he had to help!

After running around for a while, Natsu skidded to a sudden halt, bracing himself for impact.

Being unable to stop herself so quickly, Haru tripped over the small Lion.

Noticing this happening, Tsuna grabbed her hand as she fell and tugged in attempts to help her regain her balance, however, as we know, Tsuna is a clumsy guy so he lost his balance from this.

He fell backwards and Haru fell on top of him.

Not wanting to get squashed, Natsu quickly escaped to the side and watched as the two big humans fell to the ground with a thud.

"Itte… Haru, are you okay?" Tsuna asked as he rubbed the back of his head that he hit when he fell.

"Haru is okay-desu. She landed on something pretty soft after all." Haru giggled referring to how she fell on Tsuna. "Are you okay? It looks like you hit your head." Haru reached over to touch the back of his head gently with her fingertips.

She could feel a small little bump forming. That must have hurt.

Maybe they could go and get an ice pack to put on the back of his head?

Haru was busy thinking about what she could do to help him feel better from the fall while Tsuna was thinking 'HARU IS ONTOP OF ME. SHE IS ON ME. WHAT DO I DO? WHERE DO I TOUCH?'

Natsu felt very triumphant with himself so he hopped on top of the both of them.

"GAAAAOOOO!"

He must have felt like he was the king of the humans.

Haru giggled at how playful Natsu was being.

She noticed that he was running around them both while they were talking but she figured that he only did that to get Tsuna's attention. It was weird for him to not take notice of Natsu so quickly when he normally picked the lion cub first thing.

Noting the difference, she didn't do anything to make Tsuna aware of Natsu's actions, wondering how long it would take for him to notice.

That's when Natsu took matters into his own hands and stole the crown that she was working on for him! What a sneaky little thing.

"I bet Natsu was just being rebellious since you weren't paying attention to him." Haru giggled.

"… What are you doing? This is a weird game to be playing with your box animal." Lal Mirch commented.

She finished training in the basement and was taking a small break. She was drinking tea when she heard the commotion. She walked over to see the two teens on the ground with a box animal celebrating on top.

"Gaaaoo! GAAOOOOO!"

That box animal was acting pretty energetically and looked like he had this victorious look on his face, even though he was normally such a scaredy cat.

Haru finally realized she was still on top of Tsuna when Lal Mirch came in and commented on their position and quickly scrambled off of him.

Tsuna laughed nervously and looked away from Haru.

She quickly looked for the crown that Natsu dropped to inspect for damages.

Natsu jumped off Haru's back when she scrambled off Tsuna and he hopped over to Tsuna. "Gao Gao! GAAOOO!"

"Ah… I get it. You've got a good partner, Sawada. He was trying to help you. Next time, just go for it." Lal Mirch gave Tsuna a thumbs up.

Tsuna got red in the face, figuring what Lal Mirch meant. "It wasn't like that! Lal Mirch-san! I just came over for a visit!"

Lal Mirch didn't look so convinced, taking a sip from her warm tea.

Her eyes locked with Natsu's and she could tell what the small feline was thinking.

He was really trying to match the two human teens together.

"I don't think that's what Natsu had in mind. He was trying to help his master find a 'mate' to be happy with." Lal Mirch continued to tease the teen.

"LAL MIRCH-SAN!" Tsuna waved his arms around anxiously, hoping that Haru wasn't paying attention to their conversation.

Haru was too busy paying attention to the crown to notice their conversation. It looked like there wasn't any damage and she could continue making the crown for the little guy to wear later when she finished decorating it.

"Hahi? What is Tsuna-san so excited about?" She wondered.

"I-It's nothing! Nothing at all! Don't worry about it! It's just nonsense!" Tsuna tried to make Haru forget about what they were talking about.

'Nonsense, huh? Saying that to one of your masters?' Lal Mirch felt that it was time to discipline this brat once more.

She walked over and smacked him over the head with her fist and grabbed him by the back of his shirt, dragging him downstairs to the basement.

"It's been a while since we've trained. Come, Sawada. It's time for me to teach you some manners."

"Hiiieeee!"

Haru and Natsu looked at each other, not really sure what just happened. Walking back over to where she was working previously, Haru continued working on the crown and Natsu sat next to her curiously.

He wanted to know what she was doing and he also wanted to get closer to her. Maybe if Haru liked him the most, it would give his master the advantage?

Natsu was priding himself as a good box weapon. His master was so lucky.

* * *

><p>Ahh, I don't know why writing for Tsuna x Haru is so difficult and life draining for me. Haha.<p>

I hope you enjoyed this one!

Until next time!

-Neospice12


	9. Walks are the Best!

Mmmm I wonder if people are still reading this (or just any other story for that matter) anymore. Haha. Well, I enjoy this series and project so I'll just keep going. Self-satisfaction I suppose.

I'm on spring break so I'm going to try to at least force an update out of all of these stories!

Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer is applied.

* * *

><p><strong>Walks are the Best!<strong>

Haru was watching the animals run around the house, Jirou in particular.

It seems that he's been getting a bit more aggressive as of late and she wasn't sure why. None of the other animals (aside from Uri) bothered him. What was making him so upset?

Upon consulting Lal Mirch on the matter, she concluded, "Don't you think it's because he just wants to go outside and work his body? He probably has all this extra energy he wants to get rid of." Lal Mirch said, understanding the feeling.

If she didn't get to beat up at least 5 things in a day, she would be full with pent up anger.

She normally just beat up a few dummies if there weren't any idiots around for her to trounce. Of course, she didn't say this to Haru, because who knew what that girl would do if she knew the truth?

It would finally make sense as to why Tsuna would always run away and hide whenever he saw Lal Mirch walking in his direction.

Her suggestion to walk Jirou made a lot of sense. Jirou was a dog and they needed to be walked and they usually loved going on walks, right? Even though he was a box weapon, he's still a dog. He acts and sounds like a dog.

That's when she decided it was time for her to go and take him out for a walk.

"Yosh! I'll do it then! First. Time to change." Before anything, Haru went up to her room and changed into something that was suited for going running outside.

Lal Mirch had bought out collar and leash for Jirou to use for walks, so Haru took that and called for Jirou.

"Jirou-chan!~ Do you know what a walk is? It's time for a walk!"

Hearing barking sounds from another room and the sound of padded feet repeatedly hitting the ground, she knew that Jirou knew what 'walk' meant and he was excited for it.

The canine ran into the room Haru was in and ran around her in circles, not wanting to waste any time in telling her that he loved the idea of going on a walk. He could go outside and smell the fresh air! Chase bunnies! Run around and stretch his legs! Maybe even mark his territory!

Crouching to the ground, Haru pat the ground gently, a command that she taught him to mean 'sit down.' Planting his butt down on the ground, he waited patiently for Haru to put the collar around his neck and secure the leash onto the collar.

The quick swishing movements of his tail was all Haru needed to see to know that he was way too excited about going on this walk with her.

Once the collar and leash were secure, they were ready to go out on their way! "Alright everyone, Jirou and Haru are going out for a walk. Everyone else must listen to Lal Mirch-san well, okay?" She commanded of the animals who then replied in their own various ways.

The two left through the front door and were on their way to go on a walk or go on a jog.

Jirou was a well-trained dog who never deviated away from Haru's side and he never tried to run off on his own. He made sure to stay next to Haru and move at her pace. His obedience made things easier for Haru.

She didn't have to worry about him running off and causing trouble, or getting hurt. He didn't bark menacingly at other people or dogs either! Even if other dogs barked at him, trying to pick a fight, Jirou would do nothing.

Perhaps he thought all of the other dogs were beneath him?

What Haru found to be funny was if anyone who looked suspicious, or if anyone came up to them to bother Haru, Jirou would immediately go on the defensive and act as if he were protecting her. This is one thing that was great about dogs, some of them were willing to put themselves between danger and their human companions.

Most of the people didn't mean any harm, but Haru still appreciated the sentiments.

The two would go jogging for a little bit and do a bit of walking to settle down.

Sometimes they would take a water break. Haru would drink out of a water bottle that she kept in her jacket, and she had also brought along a foldable container that could be used to pour water into for Jirou to drink out of.

By looking at her watch, she saw that they have been outside for roughly an hour, but it looked like Jirou still had plenty of energy to go for longer. He was also very curious about exploring more of the town.

With that being said, she decided to stay outside with Jirou for a bit longer so he could have his fun, go home and then just relax for the rest of the day.

The Namimori park was nearby so she directed Jirou towards the direction of the park. They could get a lot of walking or jogging in while looking at the pretty scenery.

Both of them walked towards the park peacefully until, Jirou stopped moving his feet, the tug of the collar made Haru stop walking.

Sniffing the air, "WAN!" Jirou ran off, resulting in Haru stumbling after him. The dog was stopping at nothing, running down the side walk, dodging people as he then ran into the park.

There, practicing his swings in the park was his master! He must have smelled the scent of his master and took off running!

"Hahiii!~ Jirou! You need to stop running-desu! Haru isn't that fast!" Haru complained and Jirou skid to a quick stop.

"Wan wan!"

Yamamoto stopped swinging the bat when he heard a barking sound and a familiar 'hahiiiiii'.

Jirou stood in front of Yamamoto with his tail wagging happily while Haru was next to him panting for air. She clutched onto the leash for dear life because she didn't know how she'd break it to Yamamoto if she lost his dog.

Luckily for her, she had the leash coiled around her arm, but unluckily for her, because it was coiled around her arm, it hurt a little bit as she was being dragged around by the dog.

For a creature smaller than her, he was pretty strong. He could easily drag her around if he really wanted to. Wonder if it was because most dogs his size were that strong, or perhaps it was because he was a box weapon that he had this much strength.

Tail wagging, he waited for Haru to let go of the collar before he pounced on Yamamoto's stomach, bringing them both to the ground and he was licking Yamamoto's face, while also making crying sounds.

He must have missed Yamamoto very much. He enjoyed being around the other animals, but nothing could quite beat being around his master.

"Haha! It's good to see you too, Jirou! Alright boy, calm down. I won't go anywhere." Yamamoto laughed, pushing Jirou's face away from his. He was becoming a slobbery mess and this needed to stop.

Sitting down on the ground, Jirou whined until Yamamoto raised a hand to pet his head gently.

The dog had really missed his master and it felt like it has been ages since the last time he saw him! He was going to get all the attention he could get right now!

"It seems as soon as he caught whiff of your scent he went running." Haru giggled kneeling down next to Yamamoto.

It was good to see his precious little furry companion of course, but things were even better because even Haru was here.

"You did great Jirou." Yamamoto squished both of Jirou's cheeks with his hands. Jirou's tail was wagging so hard, it was a worry that he may somehow hurt his tail.

Haru didn't do anything but watch, since she didn't want to interrupt this touching moment between master and… box animal.

It was cute to see how much Jirou loved Yamamoto and how smart the box animal really was. He was much smarter than normal dogs as he understood more complex orders which were given to him. It was really helpful to have him around and ask for him to help out with the other animals.

When he was working with Kojirou, they both were great for calming the other animals down when they started fighting.

The most dangerous to have fighting was probably Gyuudon and Uri due to their size or their flame element.

Mentally shaking her head, Haru was really thankful for the canine and thus wanted to give him something that would have made him happy.

Think of it as a treat for him for being so low-maintenance compared to the rest of the animals in terms of temperance and obedience.

Yamamoto pushed against his knees to stand up, looking at the two next to him. Since they were here, might as well play around right?

"Hey Haru, want to stay here for a little bit and play with us?" Yamamoto asked.

"WAN!" Jirou seemed to second the idea as he hopped from side to side, his rear high up in the air playfully. From his posture, it was clear that he was ready to play.

Jirou was excited to play and Yamamoto had such a friendly smile on his face. It was too hard to say no and disappoint those faces, so Haru found herself agreeing to stay and play with the two.

Even though she was worried about being around him before, he was really easy to get along with. He had this calming element about him. Haru giggled to herself as she realized the second meaning of what she thought.

Calming element, huh?

It was true that he had the element of the rain which could calm things down, but she meant it in the way that Yamamoto was so friendly, it didn't make sense to have your guard up around him.

He wouldn't hurt anyone if they were a friend.

She nodded her head happily, "Sure, Haru doesn't mind staying for a little longer." She said.

Trotting over to his bag, he pulled out a baseball glove and he threw it over to her and upon noticing the worried look on her face, he pulled out a soft, squishy ball as well.

He put away the baseball because he knew that if he were to get serious, throwing with a baseball would get pretty dangerous. He didn't want to hurt anyone.

"Why do you have that, Yamamoto-kun?" Haru asked him.

Looking down at the ball in his hand, he grinned. "Well… I just started carrying it around with me. Who knows if I'll ever run across you while I'm practicing, so I bring this ball on the off chance you ever want to join me." Yamamoto answered her question.

It made Haru's heart skip a little bit knowing that he brought a safer ball to throw around just in case she ever felt like joining him. Wonder how long he's been carrying it around?

"How long have you been carrying it with you?" She asked next.

Yamamoto scratched his cheek and laughed a little bit to himself, a little bit of color added to his face. So this is what Yamamoto looked like when he was embarrassed, huh?

He looked away from her and grinned sheepishly. "I don't really know exactly how long it's been, but it's been for a while I'd say. I'm just happy that it paid off." Yamamoto said, tossing her the ball with an underhanded toss.

That was kind of cute of him somehow to keep bringing a ball he wasn't going to use along so he'd be prepared to let her join him if she ever felt like it.

Jirou was staring at the ball intently, waiting for someone else to throw it so he could chase after it. "Wan wan!"

The two teens looked at each other and they started tossing the ball to each other and watched as Jirou would chase after the ball between the two of them, barking all the while.

Yamamoto gave Haru a quick look before he chucked the ball as far as he could and Jirou went chasing after it as soon as he saw where it was going with an energetic yelp!

He went running after the ball as fast as his little legs could take him.

"Wow, look at him run! He's so fast!" Haru was in awe, just happy that he slowed down enough for her to actually chase after him earlier when they were going for their run. If he ran off at full speed, she would've lost sight of him a long time ago.

It was expected for him to be this fast since he was a canine of course.

It was easy to catch up to the ball for Jirou and he jumped up to catch the ball in his mouth and he scrambled onto his feet to run back to either of the two teens to ask them to throw the ball again.

"Wuamph!" He held the ball out for Haru to throw this time.

She didn't have much confidence in her throwing arm, but she was going to give it her best shot. Winding up her arm, she threw the ball as hard as she could and Jirou ran off after the ball, assuming that it would fly as far as Yamamoto's ball did, but it didn't. He quizzically looked around, wondering where the ball went when he heard a soft thud behind him.

The ball was behind him? How did that happen?

He trotted over the ball, sniffing it to make sure he was looking at the right ball. After assuring himself that he's got the right ball, Jirou picked the ball up in his mouth and trotted himself over back to Haru for a revenge match.

Taking the ball, she threw it as hard as she could and this time Jirou kept a close watch on the ball and he managed to catch it this time in his mouth.

"Wuwamph!" He begged for Yamamoto to throw the ball this time.

At first which was Yamamoto and Haru tossing the ball to each other turned into a pampering of the box animal who wanted to play fetch.

This continued for an hour until Haru decided it was high time they returned home. Who knew what the other box animals were doing right now?

For all she knew, they were probably going crazy.

"Jirou, it's time to go home now. We've been out for quite some time now." Haru instructed to only be met with whining.

He didn't want to leave his master along just yet! He just got to see his master again after so long!

Not wanting to bother Haru, Yamamoto patted Jirou down. "Come on Jirou, you promised to not cause Haru trouble." He looked over at Haru, "I'll go and walk you both home." He offered.

Jirou excitedly ran over to get his leash again that Haru earlier took off of him and handed it to Haru so she could place it back on him before he ran over to Yamamoto.

Using his head, he nudged Yamamoto over to Haru and sat in between of them and held the leash in his mouth.

If either Yamamoto or Haru tried to grab the leash, he'd move his head away from them so they couldn't grab the leash.

They didn't get what was going on, until Yamamoto figured out what his partner was trying to say.

"I think he wants us both to hold onto the leash." He suggested.

"Wuamph!" Jirou barked happily with the leash still in his mouth.

What a cute dog. He made for a wonderful… wing-dog.

She took hold of the leash and waited for Yamamoto to take the leash as well.

Jirou waited for them to start walking so they could go home.

The point of this was, what Haru thought, to have Haru and Yamamoto hold hands in a way while they walked home together.

It would be hard to believe if it were any other dog, but since this was JIrou they were talking about, it was quite likely that is what he was actually planning. "You're so lucky Yamamoto-kun. Jirou cares so much for you and does cute things like this." Haru giggled.

Of course, Yamamoto was thinking the same thing, looking down at one of his box weapons. He was always so proud of the accomplishment his dog box weapon made.

He was growing a lot and of course, he was very good at creating opportunities between him and Haru.

The two teens figuratively held hands as they walked towards the house Haru was currently staying at with the rest of the box animals.

They took their time walking home, leisurely talking among themselves to prolong their journey to their final destination.

That's when Haru thought of something. "You know, since Jirou needs a lot of exercise and he loves being around you, we can set up walk dates. I will walk around with Jirou and meet up with you at the park so you can play with Jirou after your done practicing." She suggested as they reached the entrance of the door.

From the sounds of this suggestion, it sounded as though Jirou could see his master more often and Yamamoto would be able to spend more quality time with Haru.

This was a great idea because then he could get friendlier with her before any of the other guys do.

"I like the sound of that. We can meet up at the park, sometimes when you go and walk Jirou and perhaps… sometimes we can meet up without Jirou. You know, like a date." Yamamoto grinned.

Haru felt her cheeks heat up and she smiled back at Yamamoto with how smooth he just turned that against her.

Upon hearing Haru's voice at the door, the animals all started crowding around behind the door.

They could hear various claws scratching at the door, or bigger animals bumping their heads against it. It wasn't fair that Jirou had Haru to himself for so long! They wanted to play with her as well!

"Okay, we should do that. It'll be a date. We can talk about it soon." Haru quickly had to go back inside to quell the anger of the other box animals to make sure they didn't break down the door.

"Alright! I'll text you later then." Yamamoto waved and started jogging his way home, but not before petting Jirou's head gently one more time.

* * *

><p>Yamamoto and Jirou are super adorable, aren't they?<p>

OH! If any of my readers were not aware of this yet, a lil while back I started a new project which is based off of dating simulation games. [of course, it is still Haru centric]

Just like the 100 oneshot challenge, the readers get to decide what is the next choice of action they want [they decide among choices that I lay out]. If you are interested, go and give it a look if you haven't already. New 'players' are always welcome! So as long as you of course listen to the rules. ^^

Until next time!

-Neospice12


End file.
